‘Doctor Who’ thing of the day: Christmas special will be fast-tracked internationally

Can’t wait for the return of the Doctor at Christmastime? Nope, none of us can… and it seems that the BBC is beginning to catch on that the show is popular enough outside the U.K. that concerns about piracy are becoming a factor in its scheduling. From Airlock Alpha:

[T]he upcoming Christmas special episode of the series has been fast-tracked internationally, meaning fans outside the United Kingdom won’t have too long to wait for their Whovian fix. The festive adventure will air on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom, followed by airings in the United States, Canada and Australia … all within days after the original broadcast.

This is a technique that usually works in reverse as a deterrent to online piracy, with many British channels now showing shows from America within days –- if not hours -– after their original transmission.

No date has been confirmed for American and Canadian audiences (although it is expected to be close to the premiere), but Australia will broadcast the episode Dec. 26.

Of course, this doesn’t really help American viewers who don’t get BBC America on their cable systems… which is lots of us. (The network has far less market penetration than Syfy does.) So we’ll still have to wait another day, beyond the BBC America premiere, for the episode to appear on iTunes and Amazon Video on Demand. Um, yes, we’ll still have to wait another day…